Oh, how I love classic mysteries. This one was written in 1944 and takes place in Britain during WWII.
In a military hospital during the Blitz, a patient dies on the operating table during what should be a straightforward procedure. Inspector Cockrill is called in just to make sure everything is on the up-and-up, but when the chief nurse is murdered, he knows something is seriously wrong. He narrows the suspects to six friends and we, the readers, get to sweat it out with them as the murderer is forced into confession.
I really liked this book. I've never read Christianna Brand before! I've been missing out. I loved her characters, I was completely fooled about who the murderer was and I was totally engaged in Christianna Brand's story for the whole book. I also really enjoyed a look into Britain during the war. I must add that there is something about England--is it all the green, shadowy places? It is the cool, cloudy climate? Is it the antiquity that clings to everything? I don't know, but that island is such an effective setting for these types of understated, shallow-water-runs-deep mysteries. On TV, in movies and in books, a mystery set in Great Britain sure seems especially atmospheric and gripping to me.
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